Flexible container



Dec. 5, 1967 RYOTARO NOHMURA 3,356,120

FLEXIBLE CONTAINER Filed April 2, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 2, 1965 1967 RYOTARO NOHMURA 3,356,120

FLEXIBLE CONTAINER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,356,120 FLEXIBLE CONTAINER Ryotaro Nohmura, Taisho-ku, Osaka, Japan, assignor, by

mesne assignments, to The Research Development Corporation of Japan, Tokyo, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed Apr. 2, 1965, Ser. No. 445,215 Claims priority, application Japan, Mar. 20, 1964, 39/28,476 1 Claim. (Cl. 150.5)

This invention relates to a flexible container formed by a sheath of windings of a flexible material, embedded in a flexible casing constructed by coating the sheath with a flexible coating material and having a mouthpiece in both the upper and lower openings thereof, said casing being collapsible and being of a soft material selected from the group consisting of synthetic resins and rubbers. The windings are of a soft material selected from the group consisting of a yarn cord, thread and the like, and are embedded in the casing so as to reinforce it and in such a manner that the bulging drum-shaped container is collapsible. Said windings are wound less densely in the equatorial region of said casing than in the neighborhoods of the upper and lower openings, and additional lengths of said winding material can be wound at right angles to the windings. Moreover because a mouthpiece is provided in both the upper and lower openings the mouthpieces can be used as in inlet for the material to be stored in the container and an outlet for withdrawing said material, respectively. I

The object of the invention is to provide a container which is light and durable, has a large capacity, and is flexible.

Another object of the invention is to provide a container, the peripheral wall of which increases in density toward its top and bottom so that it may effectively withstand the varying distribution of load upon the wall.

Still another object is to provide a container of extraordinarily large capacity which is light in weight and tough.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become clear as the following description proceeds, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a cord Wound around a bulging drum-shaped mold;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation wound on the mold;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation view showing additional cord being wound Horizontally to the cord as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view, on an enlarged scale, of a mouthpiece fitted into the container according to the invention;

FIG. 5 is a mold;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of said mold shown in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a cord wound densely around a bulging drum-shaped mold.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2, 4, and 5, a bulging mold or core 2 is made up of individual units or elements 1 in such a manner that it may be readily broken down into said elements 1.

Disposed on the top and bottom, respectively, of said core 2 are ring clasps 17, 17 in order to unite said elements and moreover a plurality of book pins 3 and 4 are provided at equal spacings along each surface of said clasps. The pins 3 provided on the top of the core 2 are numbered 30, 3b, 30, etc. A flexible cord or yarn 5 is hooked onto pin 3:: and passed around pin 35 and then pulled downward and hooked onto pin 4a which is among the pins 4 provided on the bottom of the view showing the cord being plan view showing a bulging drum-shaped 3,356,120 Patented Dec. 5, 1967 core. It is to be noted that the cord is not hooked on a bottom pin 4 which is just below the pin 30: but is hooked on pin 4a which is olfset with respect to the pin 3a. The cord 5 is thus wound downwardly around the bulging lateral wall of the core from pin So from between pins 312 and 3b and hooked on pin 40, whence it is further passed upwardly around said lateral wall but on the opposite side thereof and hooked between pins 3b and 30. In this manner, the winding of the cord 5 around the center of the lateral wall of the core 2 is less dense than in the areas close to the top and bottom of the core 2, wherein said cord is densely wound and intervals between each wound cord are a minimum. The bulging wall of the core 2, except in the centers of the top and bottom areas is coated with a flexible coating agent which is selected from the group consisting of, e.g. vinyl and other synthetic resins and various types of synthetic rubber. The resulting Wall 8 is an intimately interlocked layer in which the film formed by the coating agent is inseparably lined with the cord 5. Where the above-mentioned synthetic resin is vinyl, polyethylene, on other flexible resin, the wall 8 is also flexible so that the container of this invention may be freely knocked down or folded when not in use and'may be conveniently transported to the place where it is to be used. Furthermore, the present container may be quickly inflated when it is desired to put it to use. After the. above-mentioned wall is formed, said ring clasps are removed by drawing out said pins 3 and 4 and the inside core or mold 2 is broken down into its elements or units 1 which may be removed through either the top or the bottom opening 9.

Into each of the openings 9 is inserted an under flange 11 of a mouthpiece 10 and a retainer plate 12 is secured thereto by means of bolts 14 passing through holes 13 formed by said pins 3, 4. The mouthpieces are thus attached to the top and bottom, respectively, of the container. A hanger 15 is fitted to each of the mouth-pieces.

Referring, now, to FIG. 3, a flexible cord or yarn 16 is wound around the equatorial region of the bulging wall which has been formed as above, the density of the cord 16 in said equatorial region being less than in the neighborhoods of the top and bottom openings, in such a manner that each length of the cord runs latitudinally or at right angles to the previous windings of cord 5.

In this manner, the thickness of the equatorial region of the bulging wall of the container can be increased as compared with the mode of embodiment described above.

Then, the wall is coated in the same manner as above to form an integral casing 8.

The inner layer of the casing contains said cord 5 and, and in the equatorial region, said cord 16 which runs at right angles with the cord 5. After the casing 8 is formed, the core is knocked down and removed, followed by the provisions of mouthpieces in the same manner as described above.

The thinness of the wall'of this container affords not only a greatly reduced weight but also a larger effective capacity.

Since the cords 5 and 16 are firmly embedded in the resinous or rubbery matrix, the resulting casing or wall is exceedingly tough and durable despite the fact that it is relatively thin.

In the former embodiment, the container is less dense in the equatorial region than in the neighborhoods of the top and bottom mouthpiece. The result is that the concentration of stress on the mouthpieces and their vicinities and, consequently, the possibility of those portions of the container being broken or damaged are effectively prevented. Thus, the container of the invention is by far tougher and more durable than might be imagined. This failure-proof toughness of the container remains unaffected even when it has an inordinately large capacity.

The winding of cord 16 running at right angles with the winding in the equatorial region of the container positively prevents the excessive bulging of the region and, accordingly, the possible damage of the container due to the stress acting horizontally on its lateral wall.

Notable is the fact that although it is made of cord and synthetic resin or rubber, the container of the invention is exceedingly durable even when it is relatively large in size.

An additional advantage is that since the container has two openings fitted with mouthpieces at the top and bottom, both filling and draining of the container are greatly facilitated, for the top and bottom openings may be used for the above purposes, respectively. The convenience of folding the flexible container and carrying it about has hereinbefore been mentioned.

The last but not the least important feature of the invention is that the present container may be easily and quickly manufactured on a mass-production basis simply by winding a cord or yarn around a knock-down mold, coating the windings with a coating material, and knocking down and taking out the mold.

The above-mentioned mold consists of independent units or elements which may be readily connected or disconnected. The mode of connection of said units may be conventional.

In addition to the above-mentioned advantages, a mention may be further made of the attractive appearance of the container of the invention.

What I claim is:

A flexible container comprising two axially aligned mouthpieces having removable closure members, a body portion comprised of windings of flexible material and a matrix of flexible material in which said windings are embedded to form a flexible casing, said windings being of a material taken from the group consisting of yarn, cord and thread, and the matrix flexible material being taken from the group consisting of synthetic resins and rubbers, said windings extending helically from one end of the container to the other and being spaced farther apart in the central region between the mouthpieces than in the regions adjacent the mouthpieces so that the central portion of the container bulges outwardly, and additional lengths of said windings being positioned in the central region of the container and extending in a plane perpendicular to the axis between the mouthpieces and substantially perpendicularly to the helical windings, said container having a ring of holes around the openings therein left by pins on the mold core around which the windings are guided during the helical winding of the windings, and said mouthpieces each including an axially extending hollow cylindrical portion and a laterally extending flange on the inner end thereof, said flange being against one surface of the container, a circular retaining ring against the other surface of the container in alignment with said flange, and bolts extending through the holes in said container and holding said flange and said retaining ring against said container, the respective mouthpieces serving, when the container is in the vertical position, as an inlet and an outlet for material in the container.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1958 Tabbert -1 7/1962 Young 220-3 

